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The Octopus Trip
Cacti - T. peruvianus, Cannabis & Alcohol
Citation:   Cpt. Leaf Hands. "The Octopus Trip: An Experience with Cacti - T. peruvianus, Cannabis & Alcohol (exp84124)". Erowid.org. Jul 19, 2018. erowid.org/exp/84124

 
DOSE:
15 in oral Cacti - T. peruvianus (tea)
    oral Caffeine (liquid)
    smoked Tobacco - Cigarettes  
    vaporized Cannabis  
    repeated smoked Cannabis  
    repeated smoked Tobacco - Cigarettes  
    repeated oral Alcohol - Beer/Wine  
BODY WEIGHT: 220 lb
History and Preparation:

This was my third attempt at ingesting mescaline containing cactus like San Pedro or Peruvian Torch, my first two attempts failed due to improper preparation. The first time I used 18 inches and froze small chunks of the dark and light green flesh and ate it. It took 3 hours to eat it all and effects were very little to nothing. The second time I blended about 15 inches worth of fresh light and dark green flesh with water and drank it. It was horrible. Slimy, frothy, warm snot drink. I barely kept it down while drinking an entire blender worth. No effects.

I knew a new method would need to be used to achieve full effects so the decision was made to make tea. The specimen was a massive tree of a cactus, easily twice as fat as any Torch I have ever seen. Thirty inches for two people were de-spined and peeled leaving only as much dark green flesh as possible. My friend and I decided to use only the dark green flesh this time based off a photo of a shaman who was scraping only the dark green off with a knife. We cut up small chunks and blended with distilled water. We then boiled the froth on low until it turned into mush which took a total of 4 hours. After turning into a sticky matter with little water we strained the tea out with a shirt and let it hang to drip over night. I had decided to eat very little and refrained from meat for the day. After 6 hours of working we then planned on drinking the tea in the morning and slept.

Experience:

We split about 12 ounces of the thick drink that smelled like artichoke. It's not like Lipton's. I gagged a little at first and some came back up into my mouth. I feel like I have a strong tolerance to gross food. I swallowed it back down. After chasing with mt dew and had a cigarette we decided to watch the obligatory Fear and Loathing for the come up. The movie is one of my personal favorite and it always funny to me. We took vaporizer hits from the volcano and watched about half of the movie and then went for another smoke outside.

We both seemed to notice the first twinges of feeling creeping through our bodies. A similar anxiety like with mushrooms started to set in. The feeling to change scenery came to me but the feeling seemed to follow me no matter which room I was in.
The feeling to change scenery came to me but the feeling seemed to follow me no matter which room I was in.
I hadn't showered on purpose so I could when I was coming up. It was intense. The feeling of the hot water hitting me made my nerves vibrate and I could feel my synapses firing. No visuals, just all body high so far. Drying off and putting on new clothes felt great however I felt like I was rushing around all jittery (possibly the caffeine). We started watching Youtube videos of some color changing Octopus while listening to Boards of Canada. It was amazing. The music seemed to synchronize perfectly with the moment and the feeling overall. The octopus was mesmerizing, its ability to rapidly change complex color patterns on its skin is unworldly. Everything was coming together and I had the feeling of a 'perfect' moment happening. I wanted nothing to change and my only worry was being distracted from what I was feeling and seeing. The music is personal for me which I am sure helped my mood, it also would resound in my head for much of the trip.

Time slowed down. Time crawled. Heavy sighs. Chain smoking (cigs and weed). We talked in depth about monks with higher brain power who understand quantum physics and things of the like. No major visuals but I could see leaves swirling on the ground multiple times though the trip. The visuals seemed like I needed to try hard to notice them which was somewhat disappointing but the sheer feeling of everything in its right place more than made up for it. It was a very emotional feeling and I know I teared up multiple times from either laughing or being in awe. We started watching The mighty Boosh which is one of my favorite shows. I have seen the episodes many times but I kept noticing new things that I had never noticed before. In the mutant's episode I noticed for the first time the main mutant has an octopus head.

The trip was definitely trying to tell me something. The octopus symbol kept coming back. The shirt we had used to strain with was hanging out of my cupboards by the arms with the body balled up and stapled. It looked just like maroon octopus crawling out of the cupboards. On the fridge was an flier for a band with strange art and I noticed another octopus. I had just recently broken up with my girlfriend of 1 year. It ended badly with her cheating on me on valentine's day. She loved octopus art. She has an awesome tattoo of an octopus on her fore arm. I feel like I have been doing well without her but I know I am not over her yet, it has been too soon. The symbols were trying to tell me something. My friend had also just broke up with his girlfriend and ended up talking to her during part of his trip (after the peak). We talked about women and relationships and life. I feel like the cactus has helped me in ways I might not even understand. I feel like it opens up communication, with yourself and others. Doing this with others can really put you both on the same frequency, being unable to connect with anyone but each other.

There were times where I suppose I felt uncomfortable but nothing I couldn't handle. I feel like using only the dark green matter helps by reducing nausea. We used no skin, no spines, no woody round core and no light green flesh. I feel this is the best method for reducing nausea and other side affects. I did have some temporary constipation which I have heard of happening before. Next time I will be increasing the amount and the boiling process...

Time line:

8am - Wake up

9am - Drink tea

12pm - Feel first twinges

1pm - Feeling full effects

3-4pm - Starting to taper off

5-10 - Still feel different, from one moment to the next

10-2am - Noticeable but barely

2am - Sleep

Keep in mind I was smoking high quality marijuana and drinking PBR (6 beers) through a lot of this. We ate in the afternoon but most of the trip was done on an empty stomach, with beer starting after eating. I feel the physical preparation I took did affect the trip, my friend and I both commented that I seemed to be feeling it more.

Exp Year: 2010ExpID: 84124
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: 27
Published: Jul 19, 2018Views: 1,224
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Cacti - T. peruvianus (69) : Preparation / Recipes (30), Combinations (3), Small Group (2-9) (17)

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